What’s the big deal about all-male QPCC?

THE EDITOR: For the longest time now, the management of the Queen’s Park Cricket Club (QPCC) has had to deal with the ongoing debate of accepting female members. So far management has been able to keep it an all male members club, but there has been much criticism for this.  I for one cannot imagine why people would have a problem with the idea of an all male club. There is the argument that an all male club is an example of gender discrimination, and if this is permitted then why not have clubs that discriminate on race, religion or for anything the club may choose. The fact of the matter is that it does display some signs of gender discrimination, but what is wrong with that? Do our high schools not display gender discrimination? Can a boy put St Joseph Convent as his number one choice in the SEA examination, or a girl put Fatima College? Of course not, because we accept this form of discrimination. Do we not have male bathrooms and female bathrooms?

Again, would women want to make this unisex now? I can’t imagine they would, so again, gender discrimination is okay in that instance. However if we had an all white school or an all blacks only bathroom then yes, these are certainly not acceptable, so gender discrimination can in no way be compared to racial discrimination. I do not hear women making a fuss of a girls only section in a Carnival band, nor when females go to a nightclub and get in at a cheaper cost than males? Is this gender discrimination, of course it is, but again, no one complains about this. So why the big fuss about the Oval? Don’t women have their own clubs? Of course they do, but the truth of the matter is, is it that these women want to be members of the Oval because they are not wanted there, and they cannot accept that. No self-respecting woman would really want to be a member at an all male club. Why would they? The way that men behave among themselves, the language they use, would women really want to be subjected to that? The most astonishing part to me is that women, namely members’ spouses and daughters, have use of the club. They have access to the gym, the tennis courts, the field, the squash courts, and the hockey courts.

At cricket matches, football matches and concerts women are allowed in, a member can even bring a female member into the pavilion for concerts, so what is the big fuss about? The male members are just asking to have one place, the Pavilion, which is an all male section. Is that too much to ask? One of the things that the members treasure most is that it is a place where they can go and just be with the “boys” and I am sure a lot of wives are more than happy to know that their husbands are at a place with all men, than out ogling women somewhere else. Instead of being grateful for the services extended by the QPCC to these females, there are those who don’t want some, they want all. I just can’t understand why somebody would want to be a member of a place in which they are not wanted. What is the pleasure in that? In no way is this letter intended to put women down or make them sound inferior, we all know they aren’t, it is directed at those few who make this topic an ongoing argument. Maybe one day women will be members of the QPCC, but in wanting change to come about, there must be a good reason put forth, and unfortunately there hasn’t been one to evoke change.

KELLY ROBINSON
Port-of-Spain